Aphra Behn was one of the first professional English female writers and Oroonoko was one of her earliest works. It is the love story between Oroonoko, the grandson of an African king, and the daughter of that king's general. The king takes the girl into his harem, and when she plans to escape with his grandson, sells her as a slave. When Oroonoko tries to follow her he is caught by an English slave trader and taken to the same West Indian

The story is based around the character Beverley who remembers his childhood days with his brother Felix and friends and cousins Felicity, Cecily, Dan, Sara Stanley (the "Story Girl"), hired-boy Peter and neighbour Sara Ray. The children often played in their family's orchard and had many adventures, even creating their own newspaper, called Our Magazine. More character development takes place in this novel than in its predecessor, and the reader

George Bowling, the hero of this comic novel, is a middle-aged insurance salesman who lives in an average English suburban row house with a wife and two children. One day, after winning some money from a bet, he goes back to the village where he grew up, to fish for carp in a pool he remembers from thirty years before. The pool, alas, is gone, the village has changed beyond recognition, and the principal event of his holiday is an accidental bombing

Notes from the Underground is Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1864 masterpiece following the ranting, slightly unhinged memoir of an isolated, anonymous civil servant. A dramatic monologue in which the narrator leaves himself open to ridicule and reveals more of his weaknesses than he intends, this influential short novel lays the ground work for the political, religious, moral and political ideas that are explored in Dostoevsky's later works.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes collects Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first twelve short stories about his famous London detective. It begins with the first meeting of Holmes and his sidekick Watson, who narrates the stories. Doyle was the first to employ the sidekick technique, thereby creating a character in just as much suspense and awe as his readership at the mental escapades of the erratic, terrifyingly intelligent Holmes.

Conrad reputedly wrote Under Western Eyes (1911) in response to Crime and Punishment, which he detested. The action takes place in Russia and Switzerland and shows Conrad's cynicism of revolutionary movements and ideals. It also condemns the impact on the poor and innocent by the actions of the powerful.

If you can't get enough of Sherlock Holmes, the cranky, brilliant, and above all, idiosyncratic detective created by Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle, add this collection of tales to your must-read list. These short stories portray Holmes in top form, solving an array of seemingly impenetrable mysteries and crimes in his inimitable style.

Scottish writer J M Barrie wrote both a play and a novel about the boy Peter Pan, who wouldn't grow up. This is the novel. Peter Pan lives with all the other Lost Boys in Neverland, where they never have to grow up. He visits Wendy Darling by flying through her bedroom window, and brings she and her brothers into Neverland where they encounter the fairy Tinkerbell, the princess Tiger Lily and the pirate Captain Cook.

El progreso, la ley, el alma, Dios, la Revolución Francesa, Waterloo, el idilio amoroso, la prisión, el contrato social, las barricadas de 1832, el crimen, las cloacas de París... todo tiene cabida en esta monumental novela. Y, como su título indica, todo gira en torno a la palabra "miserable", pues Víctor Hugo distingue entre los miserables hijos de la degradación material, aquellos que nada tienen salvo su dignidad; y  los miserables producto